NEW YORK (AP) — A New York state assemblyman is vowing to fight charges that he accepted $20,000 in bribes.

Bronx Democrat Eric Stevenson tells the New York Daily News (http://nydn.us/Zee5WB ) in an interview published Saturday that he “unequivocally” denies that he took the money.

Federal prosecutors charged Stevenson on Thursday with taking cash from developers of adult day care centers. They say that in exchange for the money, the assemblyman pushed through legislation protecting the centers from competition.

Stevenson denies it. He told the newspaper he “never got into any situation of taking money from these people.”

He said he was reading the Bible when agents came to arrest him.

Investigators say they have video recordings of Stevenson accepting envelopes stuffed with cash.

Stevenson wouldn’t discuss those details of the case with the newspaper.